By Zeus the Deliverer, what gratitude all Greeks owe to Plutus,
if he
destroys
these vile informers!
Aristophanes
INFORMER (_to Chremylus and Cario_). 'Tis rather you yourselves who were
such wretches; I am certain you have got my money.
CHREMYLUS. Ha! by Demeter! 'tis an informer. What impudence!
CARIO. He's ravenously hungry, that's certain.
INFORMER. You shall follow me this very instant to the marketplace, where
the torture of the wheel shall force the confession of your misdeeds from
you.
CARIO. Ha! look out for yourself!
JUST MAN.
By Zeus the Deliverer, what gratitude all Greeks owe to Plutus,
if he
destroys
these vile informers!
INFORMER. You are laughing at me. Ho! ho! I denounce you as their
accomplice. Where did you steal that new cloak from? Yesterday I saw you
with one utterly worn out.
JUST MAN. I fear you not, thanks to this ring, for which I paid
Eudemus[792] a drachma.
CHREMYLUS. Ah! there's no ring to preserve you from the informer's bite.
INFORMER. The insolent wretches! But, my fine jokers, you have not told
me what you are up to here.
